Known as this type of conventional device is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-open No. 2002-215304 laid-open on Aug. 2, 2002. This prior art includes a liquid crystal panel with a touch panel. In general, this panel displays such images as icons, dialog boxes, etc. on the left side in order to prevent those images from being hidden from view by the user's right hand. When the left-handed mode is selected, the coordination system of the liquid crystal panel is rotated by 180 degrees, and also the coordination system of the touch panel provided on the liquid crystal panel is turned by 180 degrees. That is, a left-handed operator performs an input operation with the main body that is rotated by 180 degrees, that is, is turned upside down. This improves the usability of this device for a left-handed operator.
Meanwhile, some touch panels accept not only selection of a desired icon, option or the like from the liquid crystal panel but also a handwriting input operation of an arbitrary character. However, the conventional art does not support this handwriting input technique at all.
To be more specific, when handwriting input is performed by means of a touch panel, a touch trace captured by the touch panel is usually displayed on the liquid crystal panel. However, if handwriting input is attempted on the liquid crystal panel with a touch panel of this prior art, a touch trace will be turned upside down in the left-handed mode. Therefore, this prior art is unlikely to allow an accurate handwriting input operation.
Therefore, it is a feature of certain exemplary embodiments to provide a novel touch input program and a touch input device.
It is another feature of certain exemplary embodiments to provide a novel touch input program and a touch input device that allow even a left-handed operator to perform an accurate handwriting input operation.
A storage medium according to certain exemplary embodiments is a storage medium storing a touch input program to be executed by a processor of a touch input device having a first display and a second display arranged on respective left and right sides with respect to a predetermined axis and a touch panel provided on the second display. The touch input program comprises a setting step, a determining step, a first reversing step, a first accepting step and a second displaying step.
In the setting step, a reverse input mode is set in response to a predetermined operation. In the determining step, it is determined whether or not the reverse input mode is set in the setting step. In the first reversing step, first character data is reversed vertically and horizontally when result of determination in the determining step is affirmative. In the first displaying step, an image is displayed on the first display based on the first character data reversed in the first reversing step. In the first accepting step, a handwriting input operation associated with the image displayed in the first displaying step is accepted through the touch panel. In the second displaying step, an image based on handwriting input data corresponding to the handwriting input operation accepted in the first accepting step is displayed on the second display.
The touch input apparatus of certain exemplary embodiments has the first display (12) and the second display (14) arranged on respective left and right sides with respect to the predetermined axis (Y) and the touch panel (20) provided on the second display.
A processor (42) of the touch input device executes the touch input program according to the certain exemplary embodiments described herein. As a result, the reverse input mode is set in the setting step (S1) in response to a predetermined operation. It is determined in the determining step (S3) whether the reverse input mode is set or not in the setting step. In the first reversing step (S11), the first character data is reversed vertically and horizontally when the result of determination in the determining step is affirmative. The image based on the first character data reversed in the first reversing step is displayed on the first display in the first displaying step (S13). The handwriting input operation associated with the image displayed in the first displaying step is accepted in the first accepting step (S17) through the touch panel. The image based on the handwriting input data corresponding to the handwriting input operation accepted in the first accepting step is displayed on the second display in the second displaying step (S19).
According to the certain exemplary embodiments, in response to the setting of the reverse input mode in the setting step, the first character data is reversed vertically and horizontally in the first reversing step, and the image based on the reversed first character data is displayed on the first display in the first displaying step. In this manner, when the handwriting input operation associated with the image displayed in the first displaying step is accepted in the first accepting step through the touch panel, the image based on the input handwriting input data, that is, based on the unreversed handwriting input data is displayed on the second display in the second displaying step. Thus, the touch trace will never be displayed upside down on the game apparatus that is turned upside down. This allows a left-handed operator to perform an accurate handwriting input operation.
The storage medium according to certain exemplary embodiments further comprises a second reversing step and a first processing step. In the second reversing step, handwriting input data corresponding to the handwriting input operation accepted in the first accepting step is reversed vertically and horizontally. In the first processing step, a character recognition process is executed based on the handwriting input data reversed in the second reversing step.
In certain exemplary embodiments, the handwriting input data corresponding to the handwriting input operation accepted in the first accepting step is reversed vertically and horizontally in the second reversing step (S19). The character recognition process is executed based on the handwriting input data reversed in the second reversing step in the first processing step (S23).
According to certain exemplary embodiments, since the character recognition process is performed on the basis of the reversed handwriting input data, it is possible to carry out character recognition appropriately.
The storage medium according to certain exemplary embodiments further comprises a third reversing step and a third displaying step. In the third reversing step, second character data corresponding to the character information recognized by the process of the first processing step is reversed vertically and horizontally. In the third displaying step, an image based on the second character data reversed in the third reversing step is further displayed on the first display.
In certain exemplary embodiments, the second character data corresponding to the character information recognized by the process of the first processing step is reversed vertically and horizontally in the third reversing step (S27). The image based on the second character data reversed in the third reversing step is further displayed on the first display in the third displaying step (S29).
According to certain exemplary embodiments, in response to the setting of the reverse input mode, the second character data corresponding to the recognized character information is reversed, and the image based on the reversed second character data is further displayed on the first display. This makes it easy to verify whether or not the handwriting input operation is accurate and whether or not the second character is suitable for the first character.
A storage medium according to certain exemplary embodiments, the touch input program further comprises a fourth displaying step, a second accepting step, a fifth displaying step, a second processing step, and a sixth displaying step. In the fourth displaying step, an image based on the first character data is displayed on the first display when the result of determination in the determining step is negative. In the second accepting step, a handwriting input operation associated with the image displayed in the fourth displaying step is accepted through the touch panel. In the fifth displaying step, an image based on the handwriting input data corresponding to the handwriting input operation accepted in the second accepting step is displayed on the second display. In the second processing step, the character recognition process is performed based on the handwriting input data corresponding to the handwriting input operation accepted in the second accepting step. In the sixth displaying step, an image based on the third character data corresponding to the character information recognized by the process of the second processing step is further displayed on the first display.
In certain exemplary embodiments, the image is displayed in the fourth displaying step (S37) based on the first character data when the result of determination in the determining step is negative. The handwriting input operation associated with the image displayed in the fourth displaying step is accepted in the second accepting step (S41) through the touch panel. The image based on the handwriting input data corresponding to the handwriting input operation accepted in the second accepting step is displayed on the second display in the fifth displaying step (S43). The character recognition process based on the handwriting input data corresponding to the handwriting input operation accepted in the second accepting step is executed in the second processing step (S45). The image based on the third character data corresponding to the character information recognized by the process of the second processing step is further displayed on the first display in the sixth displaying step (S49).
According to certain exemplary embodiments, the right-handed operator can perform an appropriate handwriting input operation without any predetermined operation.
In addition, certain exemplary embodiments allow the left-handed operator to perform an accurate handwriting input operation on the touch input device in the upside-down state, as in the case of the exemplary embodiments of claims 1 to 4.
Moreover, certain exemplary embodiments allow the left-handed operator to perform an accurate handwriting input operation on the touch input device in the upside-down state, as in the case of other exemplary embodiments.
According to certain exemplary embodiments, it is possible even for the left-hander to perform an accurate handwriting input operation by turning the touch input device upside down.
The above described features, aspects and advantages of the exemplary embodiments described herein will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.